The Egyptian parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee approved on Sunday a new batch of amendments to the 94/2015 Anti-Terror Law that will focus on clamping down on sources of funding for terrorist crimes, and toughening penalties to include execution. The approval comes just two weeks after the committee approved similar amendments to the 8/2015 law regulating the lists of terrorist entities. Article 3 of the law will be amended to widen the definition of sources for funding terrorist acts. "The crime of 'funding terrorism' shall take any of the following forms: collecting, obtaining, acquiring, supplying, transferring, and providing money or weapons, ammunition, explosives, equipment, statements, information, or material or others –directly or indirectly – and using any means, including digital or electronic forms, in order to be used in carrying out terrorist crimes or in providing a safe haven for one terrorist or more." The amendment will add a new paragraph to the above definition to state that sources of funding terrorism shall also include providing a place for training one terrorist or more, giving them weapons or documents in any way or form, as well as offering support and financing in order to help terrorists travel, even if the provider does not have a direct link to the terrorist crime. Head of the legislative and constitutional affairs committee Bahaaeddin Abu Shoqa indicated that Article 13 dealing with penalties to be imposed on crimes of funding terrorism will be also amended. "The scope of penalties will be expanded to be imposed on such crimes as helping individuals to travel from their native country to plan, prepare, participate or assist or carry out a terrorist activity in another country," Abu Shoqa said. "Individuals or entities involved in funding any of the above forms of terrorist activities shall be sentenced to life in prison, and individuals involved in funding an organisation designated as a terrorist one or helping it to carry out a terrorist act shall be executed, and they will also be required to pay a fine ranging from EGP 100,000 to EGP 3 million." The amendments to the 94/2015 anti-terror law as well as Law 8/2015 on terrorist entities could be discussed in a plenary session on Monday or Tuesday.
